Name

Reverend John Sapte

CLAIM TO FAME

One of the founders of the School and the man who contributed to all aspects of village life for six decades

PROFILE

It was at a breakfast in Guildford in early autumn 1862 that the Archdeacon of Surrey, John Utterton, suggested to George Cubitt and John Sapte that they might like to spearhead the building of a public school in Surrey. The pair took up the challenge and Sapte called a meeting in November of that year where the project was born, culminating in the opening of the Surrey County School in 1865.

He remained actively involved until his death in 1906. Sapte came to Cranley (as it was then spelt) as a 25-year-old in 1846, remaining its rector for 60 years. In 1847 he masterminded the building of Cranleigh’s first school and in 1859, with Dr Albert Napper (subsequently the School’s first doctor) he set up the village hospital, the first cottage hospital in the country, after deciding that a journey to London by cart was often fatal to patients. In 1888 he was appointed Archdeacon of Surrey.